GAZA CITY, Palestine: Khalil Al-Hayya, a senior Hamas leader targeted by Israel in Qatar on Tuesday, has emerged as a central figure in the leadership of the Palestinian resistance group since both Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar were killed last year.
Israeli officials said the attack on Doha was aimed at top Hamas leaders, including Hayya, its Gaza chief and top negotiator.
Two Hamas officials, cited by Reuters news agency, said the Palestinian group’s ceasefire negotiation delegation in Doha survived the attack. The Hamas delegation was in Doha to discuss the ceasefire proposal presented by US President Donald Trump.
At the heart of ceasefire negotiations during the war that erupted two years ago, Hayya has been widely seen as the group’s most influential figure abroad since Haniyeh was killed by Israel in Iran in July 2024, according to Reuters.
Hayya is part of a five-member leadership council that has led Hamas since Sinwar was killed by Israel last October in Gaza.
Hailing from the Gaza Strip, Hayya has lost several close relatives, including his eldest son, to Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip, and is a veteran member of the Palestinian group.
Born in the Gaza Strip in 1960, Hayya has been part of Hamas since it was set up in 1987. In the early 1980s, he joined the Muslim Brotherhood along with Haniyeh and Sinwar, Hamas sources, cited by Reuters, said.
In Gaza, he was detained several times by Israel.
In 2007, an Israeli air strike hit his family home in Gaza City’s Sejaiyeh quarter, killing several of his relatives, and during the 2014 war between Hamas and Israel, the house of Hayya’s eldest son, Osama, was bombed, killing him, his wife and three of their children.
Hayya was not there during the attacks. He left Gaza several years ago, serving as a Hamas point person for ties with the Arab and Islamic worlds and basing himself in Qatar for the role.
Hayya accompanied Haniyeh to Tehran for the visit in July during which he was assassinated.
Hayya has led Hamas’ delegations in mediated talks with Israel to try to secure a Gaza ceasefire deal that would have included an exchange of Israelis captured by Hamas for Palestinians in Israeli jails.
He has performed other high-profile political work for Hamas.
In 2022, he led a Hamas delegation to Damascus to mend ties with former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which were broken a decade earlier when the movement endorsed the uprising against Assad.
